Indicators

posted Sep 30, 2000

Campaigning for Change

On
April 21, 2000 — the day before Earth Day and the birthday of Sierra
Club founder John Muir — 32 members of the John Muir Democracy Brigade
were arrested at the Rotunda of the US Capitol. Their crime? The
Brigade unfurled banners protesting the alliance between members of
Congress and the oil, coal, nuclear, and other industries that finance
their election campaigns.

The actions seemed to strike a chord
with the public. Tourists in the Capitol Rotunda applauded, a number of
the arresting police officers openly expressed agreement with the
cause, and even some of the judges who sentenced Brigade members were
sympathetic. Said one judge, prior to handing down the lightest
possible sentence under the law, “Sometimes it becomes the lot of the
few, sometimes like yourselves, to stand up for what's right when the
masses are silent.”

The April action followed similar acts of
civil disobedience earlier this year and late last year, and the
Brigade made another Rotunda appearance on July 10.

“We no
longer have proper representation,” said 90-year-old Doris Haddock
(Granny D), who walked across the continent for campaign finance
reform. “Our elected leaders are consumed by the need to raise election
funds from special interests, and they no longer are able to represent
the needs of the people or of our ravaged Earth.”

A March 2000
public opinion survey by the Mellman Group shows that Granny D is
speaking for a great many Americans. The poll found that nine of ten
Americans believe the problems of our campaign system have either not
im-proved or have gotten worse, with six of ten calling for “major
changes.” This sentiment translated into support for Senator John
McCain's presidential candidacy. In July of 1999, as he hit the
campaign trail, McCain declared, “We [members of Congress] are the
defenders of an elaborate influence-peddling scheme in which both
parties conspire to stay in office by selling the country to the
highest bidder.”

Indeed, the money numbers keep escalating.
Fundraising for the 2000 elections is already nearly one-third higher
than it was at this same time prior to the 1996 elections. So far,
federal candidates and parties have raised $1.2 billion, well
above the $884.5 million raised over the same time period four
years ago.

Most of the individual contributions are coming
from a tiny fraction of the population: according to Federal Election
Commission records; less than 0.25 percent make a contribution of $200
or more.

The Center for Responsive Politics reports that
business is outspending labor by a factor of 15 to 1. And, of
particular concern to members of the John Muir Brigade, the industries
responsible for most of today's pollution — including the oil, gas,
nuclear, chemical, and mining industries — are out-giving all
environmental groups combined by an even larger factor.

—Randy Kehler

Randy
Kehler, a member of the Alliance for Democracy, was arrested in October
1999 as part of the first Democracy Brigade. The Alliance for Democracy
can be reached at tel: 781/894-1179, e-mail: peoplesall@aol.com.

Anti-Globalization Forces Rally in France

“Yes,
this action was illegal. Yes, this is serious, and that's why I assume
full responsibility. The only regret I have now is that I wasn't able
to destroy more of it. These actions will stop when this mad logic
comes to a halt.”

José Bové, spokesperson and founder of the
French Peasant Confederation doesn't eat hormone-enhanced beef, nor was
he eating his words when he stood trial on June 30th, in Millau,
France, with 10 of his colleagues, accused of dismantling a McDonald's
restaurant in the town last year.

This was no local farmers'
battle. France's “Seattle-en-Aveyron” saw the world's media jostle to
gain a place in the crowded courtroom, as outside 50,000 supporters
from France and around the world converged on Millau (population
20,000) for two days of celebration and support. On the streets,
radical French farmers rubbed shoulders with intellectual leaders such
as Pierre Bourdieu (France's Noam Chomsky) in a series of well-attended
forums, or danced the night away at the Friday concert, which attracted
120,000 to the banks of the Tarn River.

Despite echoing support for the cause, mainstream politicians stayed well away.

Earlier
in the day, at the trial, the French state was left embarrassingly
alone after McDonald's dropped charges “to calm spirits.” The
defendants successfully transformed the hearing, putting globalization
itself in the dock by calling a glittering array of international
witnesses to the stand, ranging from Public Citizen's Lori Wallach to
Rafael Alegria, president of Via Campesina. No surprises, then, when
the prosecutor was forced to bow to public opinion, deferring judgement
until September 13th to avoid creating an instant martyr in José Bové.

Not
the best start to the French presidency of the European Union, which
runs until the end of this year. With an important “rendezvous” G8
meeting in Bordeaux, the EuroMediterranean summit in Marseille to
prepare the free trade zone for this region, and the end-of-presidency
summit in Nice in December, the anti-globalization spotlight will
remain on France and Europe for some time to come.

As he left the courtroom, Bové exclaimed, “This is a victory beyond our expectations.” It may be just the beginning.

The
US House of Representatives has overwhelmingly approved a bill that
accelerates the concentration of wealth and could undermine funding of
the nonprofit sector. The bill, “The Death Tax Elimination Act,” would
phase out the federal estate tax over 10 years.

The estate tax
was established in 1916 to promote equality of economic opportunity
and, in the words of Congress, “to break up the swollen fortunes of the
rich.”

The tax provides a powerful incentive for wealthy
people to make tax-deductible contributions to the nonprofit sector.
Between 1993 and 1995, 40 percent of the value of estates over $20
million went to charities; thousands of grant-giving foundations were
formed at least in part as a result of the incentives built into this
tax.

The estate tax in question affects the estates of only the
wealthiest 2 percent of Americans. With the current exemption set at
$675,000 per person ($1.35 million for married couples), the estates of
98 percent of Americans incur no federal estate tax liability
whatsoever. That exemption is scheduled to rise to $1 million per
person ($2 million for couples) by 2006.

Proponents of the
measure argue that the estate tax hurts family-owned farms and
businesses, which currently have an exemption of $1.3 million. Yet, an
alternative bill that would have increased the exemption for family
farms and businesses was defeated along party lines.

The
repeal would lead to an estimated loss of $104 billion in tax
revenues between 2001 and 2010, in addition to the potential losses to
the nonprofit sector. President Clinton is expected to veto the bill,
but proponents vow to continue efforts to eliminate the tax.

—Fran Korten

See the Website of The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, www.cbpp.org.

Steelworkers' Victory

On
June 30, 22 months after locking out more than 2,900 steelworkers,
Kaiser Aluminum reached an agreement with the United Steelworkers of
America (USWA) to end their dispute.

Kaiser's lockout
catalyzed steelworkers' activism on a broad range of issues. They were
among the most visible unions at the WTO protests in Seattle and have
been speaking out on corporate globalization and international workers'
rights. They also formed an unprecedented coalition with
environmentalists, The Alliance for Sustainable Jobs and the
Environment, which targeted actions by Maxxam subsidiaries; the Pacific
Lumber Company, known for the logging of ancient redwoods, and Kaiser.
(See YES! Summer ‘00.)

The agreement, which David Foster,
chair of the union's negotiating committee, called “fair and
equitable,” was ratified by union members on July 14. Foster said the
settlement couldn't have been won without the support of the broader
labor movement and environmental activists. “Kaiser's steelworkers ...
became a symbol for the fight for workers' rights in a global economy.”

While
some details are to be worked out, the agreement protects retirees'
health insurance, safeguards against contracting out jobs, may provide
back pay for locked-out workers, and reinstates health insurance for
workers and their families.

Kaiser's reversal on the labor
dispute comes after a year of net losses, an all-time low stock price,
an explosion at their Gramercy, Louisiana, plant staffed by replacement
workers, and a National Labor Relations Board July 5 ruling that
Kaiser's lockout was illegal.

The Alliance for Sustainable
Jobs and the Environment now is exploring possible next steps,
including environmental restoration projects using skilled union labor,
corporate boycotts, and trade summits, says co-chair Don Kegley.

The
US Supreme Court unanimously struck down a Massachusetts law that
discouraged state contracts with companies that do business in Burma.

The
June ruling followed complaints by World Trade Organization members and
the National Foreign Trade Council, a lobby group representing 550
companies.

While corporate lobbyists and some newspapers
portrayed the ruling as a ban on anti-apartheid- style “selective
contracting” laws, and a rebuke of a state government's foray into
“foreign policy,” these were not the legal questions at issue. The
decision was limited to the specific conflict between the language of
the Massachusetts law and the language of the federal sanctions law on
Burma passed by Congress three months later.

Free Burma
activists are modifying their strategies but remain undaunted. In
recent months, Best Western, ABN Amro, Baker Hughes, and Toyota have
joined the parade of companies leaving Burma.

In
a landmark lawsuit filed against the US Food and Drug Administration,
nine eminent scientists, including some of the FDA's own, are taking
the agency to court to obtain mandatory safety testing and labeling of
genetically engineered (GE) foods. They have been joined by a host of
consumer groups, religious organizations, and concerned scientists. The
suit claims that genetically engineered food in the US is on the market
illegally and should be recalled for rigorous safety testing.

The
plaintiffs claim the FDA's own records reveal that it declared
genetically engineered foods to be safe in the face of broad
disagreement from its own experts. Agency scientists repeatedly
cautioned that GE products entail different risks than do their
conventionally pro-duced counterparts. The advice was consistently
disregarded by those who crafted the agency's current policy. (See www.biointegrity.org)

In
a related case, the European Patents Office has rejected an order of
the US Patents Office awarding WR Grace a patent on a fungicide derived
from the seeds of the neem tree.

Noting that the neem tree has
been used by Indian people for a variety of purposes for thousands of
years, environmental activist Vandana Shiva's Research Foundation took
W R Grace to court five years ago to stop the patent. Shiva said the
neem patent was a clear attempt at piracy of Indian indigenous
knowledge.

Meanwhile, Reuters news service reports that a
delegation of Russian agricultural lawmakers visiting the US said their
country would not purchase GE crops from the US. Valery Kechkin, one of
three visiting Federation Council members, said on July 21, “We are not
poor enough to go that far.”

In Brazil, a federal court has
ruled in favor of maintaining a ban on the growing and importing of
genetically engineered crops into the country.

In Britain,
environment minister Michael Meacher has admitted that pollen from GE
field crops could contaminate normal crops, regardless of how far away
they might be. It would be “false to pretend” there was “any distance
which is going to prevent some contamination,” he said.

The
American Society of Landscape Architects has joined environmentalists
in calling upon the US Department of Agriculture to suspend all field
tests on genetically engineered grasses. Scotts Company, the world's
largest lawn and turf producer, is experimenting with grasses
genetically altered to withstand heavy applications of the strongest
weed killers. Scott is also working on “low mow,” a grass variety
designed to grow more slowly and thus require less mowing. Researchers
are even contemplating creating grasses that glow when a person steps
on them.

Material for this article came from the Progressive
Review, http://prorev.com, and from the Campaign to Label Genetically
Engineered Foods, www.thecampaign.org, tel: 425-771-4049

Local Currency Loan

The
world's largest local currency loan to date has been made by the Ithaca
HOUR system in upstate New York. Alternatives Federal Credit Union/CUSO
received 3,000 Ithaca HOURS, worth $30,000, which it plans to spend for
plumbing, carpentry, electrical work, and other services for building
the credit union's new headquarters. The interest-free loan will be
repaid over 10 years.

Ithaca HOURS are local paper money that
began circulating in Ithaca in 1991. One HOUR equals an hour of basic
labor or $10.00. Thousands of area residents and more than 465
businesses accept HOURS. HOUR grants totalling $9,580 have been made to
54 community groups. The Cayuga Medical Center, the Ithaca Health Fund,
and the Public Library all now accept HOURS, as does the Chamber of
Commerce.

Inequalities
of wealth, power, opportunities, and survival prospects among the
world's peoples are confounding efforts to reverse environmental
degradation, reports a new study by The Worldwatch Institute.

Vital
Signs 2000: The Environmental Trends That Are Shaping Our Future says
the world economy pumped out nearly $41 trillion in goods and services
in 1999. However, 45 percent of the income went to 12 percent of the
world's people. “This wealthy minority is largely responsible for the
excessive consumption that drives environmental decline,” says coauthor
Molly O. Sheehan.

Third World debt hit a new high of $2.5
trillion in 1999, with some of the world's poorest nations devoting 30
percent of their budgets to debt servicing. Developing countries are
especially vulnerable to environmental change, such as the devastating
floods and landslides in Venezuela in late 1999. Worsened by
deforestation, this disaster killed more than 30,000 people.

But
even the richest nations cannot insulate themselves from emerging
global threats. The resurgence in tuberculosis (TB) may kill an
additional 70 million people by 2020. A catastrophic decline in
amphibians is wiping out a rich source for new medicines. The warming
atmosphere has spurred more severe weather events, including the
December 1999 storms that caused nearly $10 billion in damage in
Central and Western Europe.

Some of the other challenges highlighted in Vital Signs 2000:

•
More than 1,000 new chemicals are introduced to the global market each
year without testing for human and animal endocrine systems effects.

•
Worldwide, people are over-pumping groundwater by at least 160 billion
cubic meters a year, roughly the amount of water needed to produce a
tenth of global grain supplies.

• The AIDS epidemic is
particularly devastating Sub-Saharan Africa, where it now causes one
out of five deaths each year. Average life expectancy there is expected
to plummet in this decade from a high of 59 years in the early 1990s to
45 years. AIDS is also the single largest contributor to a worldwide
resurgence in TB.

• Worldwide, climate-altering carbon emissions
from fossil fuel burning fell 0.2 percent in 1999, marking a
second consecutive year of decline. However, far greater reductions are
necessary to achieve the 70 percent cut that many scientists believe is
needed to avert dangerous climate change.

There are several encouraging trends in renewable energy and efficiency technologies.

•
While much of the world's agricultural economy has stagnated, sales of
organic products are growing by over 20 percent a year. European
farmers have doubled the area cultivated with organic methods to 4
million hectares in only three years. In Italy and Austria, the share
of agricultural land certified organic topped 10 percent in 1999.
Meanwhile, farmers around the world are scaling back plantings of
genetically modified seeds.

• In the last decade, eight Western
European countries pioneered “tax shifts,” raising taxes on
environmentally harmful activities and using the revenue to cut
conventional taxes.

“We have begun to address global
challenges,” said Worldwatch senior researcher Michael Renner, coauthor
of the report. “But all too often we are only slowing destructive
trends, rather than reversing them. If we are going to build a more
environmentally stable, healthy, and equitable society, we need to
massively scale up our efforts.”

Eritrea
gets half the rainfall of Ethiopia and has suffered severe drought
conditions throughout the coast and eastern lowlands. But there is no
famine, and international agencies report no hunger-related deaths,
according to the Agence France Presse.

Eritrea has run “an
aggressive, almost military procedure” to feed its people, says banker
and economic consultant John Weakliam. As storm clouds gathered over
the Eritrean countryside this summer, hundreds of tractors from the
agriculture ministry went out to farmlands, plowing every centimeter of
high-yield land, reports the Agence. Eritrea's youth then moved into
the countryside to weed and terrace the hillsides, construct roads, and
plant trees. After the rains end in October, the entire country will be
mobilized to bring in the harvest, the Agence says. Schools will close
for the month for students to join in, along with all nonessential army
personnel.

The Eritrean government has, since independence,
emphasized food self-sufficiency, encouraged small-scale farming, and
instituted sweeping land reform that for the first time guaranteed
women equal access to land.

Despite huge areas affected by
drought and an enormous military buildup due to the war with
neighboring Ethiopia, the 1999 harvest was still a respectable 70
percent of the 500,000 tons needed to feed the small nation of 3.5
million people, according to the Agence.

Corporate “Persons”?

In
1886, the US Supreme Court declared corporations to be persons under
the 14th Amendment. More than 100 years later, Point Arena, California,
has challenged the finding.

“The City of Point Arena agrees with
Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black in his 1938 opinion in which he
states, ‘I do not believe the word person in the 14th Amendment
includes corporations',” reads the city council's April 25 resolution.

The
14th Amendment extended personhood to newly freed male slaves and used
the word “person” in a way that encouraged women to think they might
also be granted personhood. But in 1874, the Supreme Court ruled that
this was not the case; 12 years later the same court ruled that a
corporation was a person.

Point Arena's resolution is part of a growing effort to end the practice of granting corporations the rights of “persons.”

Delegates
at the 16th World Petroleum Congress faced protests by local, national,
and international activists during their June gathering in Calgary,
Alberta.

Among those in Calgary were Tibetans and their
supporters calling for a halt to China's construction of a gas pipeline
originating in Tibet's Tsaidam Basin. Protestors say the project will
escalate China's occupation of Tibet and further devastate its fragile
ecology.

Meanwhile, the debate about ‘green' alternatives to
fossil energy continues. New Scientist reports that hydroelectric dams
can release more greenhouse gases than coal-fired power stations. The
journal cited a report by the World Commission on Dams, which was
commissioned by the World Conservation Unit and the World Bank – the
world's leading funder of large dams.

Decaying vegetation and
organic matter trapped in stagnant water produces large amounts of
methane — a gas 20 times as potent as CO2. According to the WCD
summary, the methane is primarily from vegetation that washes
downstream into the reservoir throughout the life of the dam rather
than from vegetation submerged when the dam is built.

—Kari McGinnis

—Richard Conlin

Richard Conlin is on the Seattle City Council and the Positive Futures Network board.

Seattle's Green Buildings

The
city of Seattle has adopted a sustainable building program that
requires city buildings to earn at least a “silver” environmental
rating as measured by the US Green Building Council. Buildings are
responsible for 35 percent of the world's carbon dioxide emissions, 30
percent of raw materials consumption, and 25 percent of timber harvest.
Seattle's policy requires planners to take into account the full
life-cycle costs of buildings, to set high standards for indoor air
quality, and to use renewable or recycled building materials.